A study into the safe monitoring of blood pressure in pregnant women at home has been published in Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynaecology medical journal today (Friday 23 February).

Dr Asma Khalil, Senior Author and Consultant Obstetrician at St George’s, led the project after having the idea as a junior doctor.

The app allows women to monitor their blood pressure at home and alerts them if they need to attend hospital for further assessment.

HaMpton was designed to help reduce the need for pregnant women to make frequent hospital appointments without compromising their health or the health of their baby, as well as to empower them to be involved in their own clinical assessment.

A group of 108 women took part in the study. They were taught how to measure and record their blood pressure using a validated machine at home, while a control group was monitored in a clinic. No differences in adverse maternal, fetal or neonatal outcomes were found.

Dr Khalil and the team won an HSJ Award in the Using Technology to Improve Efficiency category for the HaMpton app in November 2017.

At the time, Dr Khalil said: “It means so much to be recognised at this level and we hope this helps us to implement the app on a larger scale to benefit more people.”

She added: “Having the opportunity to develop this idea at St George’s and make it successful has been great. The project wouldn’t have been successful without the enthusiasm of our team and I’m very proud to have worked with them.”

The app was also selected as one of 11 innovative projects to join the NHS Accelerator programme.